Creatures Caves

Well, only one of the eight I originally started with (Atlas the Tilynn Norn, natch) is still alive and even some of the offspring have died -- but I'm happy to report that every single Norn that has died in my little experimental isolation unit has died of old age instead of self-inflicted malnutrition.

With very few exceptions, most of whom have eventually managed to sort themselves out with minimal prompting, the offspring have learned to keep themselves fed and amused sufficiently and consistently. They've also learned to pick up at least some of the vocabulary from their elders without having access to the HLM -- although none of the offspring have managed to acquire the full vocabulary, all (or nearly all) have at least managed to learn and use the phrases "eat seed" and "retreat norn". Sadly, none of the offspring have succeeded in grasping the more abstract concepts of emotional state...and with only one surviving Norn in the whole bunch who does understand and use these words, it's unlikely that they will without outside intervention (such as emplyment of the Vocabulizer).